"Founded in January of 2005, the Younger Women’s Task Force, a project of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, is a nationwide, diverse, and inclusive grassroots movement dedicated to organizing younger women and their allies to take action on issues that matter most to them. By and for younger women, YWTF works both within and beyond the women’s movement, engaging all who are invested in advancing the rights of younger women."

Friday, November 21, 2008

This is an article on MSNBC on 11.21.08. An article like this sooo disturbing on so many levels. I feel like it produces outrage, sadness, disbelief and just a general sense of rage. In case you haven't read it, the article details the case of man who had a case brought against him by over 10 women claiming he date raped them. The first time he was tryed it was for 3 cases and he was acquitted and the second time he was tryed was for all 10 and he was basically given a slap on the wrist. There were a lot of factors and the article is actually great becuase they have experts talk about how juries often don't sympathize with rape victims and why. Though the article is disturbing, I am so glad they posted it. I was almost surprised that they chose to. It is just so disturbing to know that it is so easy for men to get away with a crime like date rape and that we are still today fighting so hard to be taken seriously after we are victimized. I had a lot of reaction to the article after putting it up in my gmail box and on Facebook, one male friend even said he wanted to find the guy and sodomize him and see how they guy took it.

Rape is I believe now considered a war crime when it's purpotrated against hundreds or thousands, but if it is just against a few women then it is considered some kind of joke. The defense (sickening I know that human beings could event defend this man's behavior) basically used the argument that he is a "playboy" and because they were at restaurants with alcohol it becuame all about the women wanting to go out and get drunk. Although I know this isn't an uncommon story, it is still horrifying, especially when you learn that the man had over 50 women listed in a "Calender of Women" on his computer. It is simply outrageous that these women were treated so poorly and that a man was basically treated as an innocent because he was considered a man with a raging libido. You can of course draw your own conclusions, but this was simply too upsetting for me to read and forget about. I tried to post it everywhere I could. I can only hope that when people read it they are more sympathetic to the cases of rape vicitms.